Major issues have concluded a Faustian agreement with President Trump.
When he said something offensive or with authoritarianism, high-minded executives would issue vague, moralizing statements and try to distance themselves from a business president who sought their approval.
But when Mr. Trump is lowering taxes, reversing burdensome regulations or using them as props for a photo shoot, they will applaud his guidance and the grin for the cameras.
After the events on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, the true cost of the balancing act was clear, even through the tear gas in the roundabout.
The drivers who joined Mr. Trump stood, was ultimately among his enablers and gave him the unpredictability of the mainstream’s credibility and normalized a president who turned the country against himself.
“This is what happens when we subordinate our moral principles to what we consider to be business interests,” said Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation and a board member at Square and Ralph Lauren. “It’s ultimately bad for business and bad for society.”
From the beginning of mr. Trump’s presidency has degenerated the American business quarrel between supporting the president’s economic agenda and condemning his worst impulses.
Early in mr. Trump’s tenure has included dozens of business leaders joining several presidential councils. Because they are eager to sit down at the table and manage policies as desired, the blue-chip CEO expressed their concerns about the failures of Mr. Trump, his history of racist behavior, allegations of sexual assault against him and his statements of legal impunity set aside. .
“He’s the president of the United States. I believe he is the pilot who flies our plane, ”said Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, at the time. “I will try to help any president of the United States because I am a patriot.”
The effort did not last long. Months after the groups were formed, they disbanded following Mr. Trump’s insistence that there were “very good people on both sides” during a spasm of white nationalist violence in Charlottesville, Va.
In the aftermath of this, business leaders tried to explain how they ended up in the mess.
“I joined because the president asked me to join, and I thought it was the right thing to do as the CEO of a company like Merck,” said Ken Frazier, one of the most famous black executives in the country, the first to leave the councils, said shortly after he left. “I just felt like I could not stay.”
But money has a short memory, and it was not long after Charlottesville that Mr. Trump was again not in the good grace of the American business world. Just a few months later, the Trump administration implemented a tax reform that delivered a windfall to corporations and wealthy individuals.
By lowering business taxes, Mr. Trump delivered one of his most popular awards to the business community, and business leaders lined up to support the effort.
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Tom Donohue, the chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, was during a White House appearance with Mr. Trump in October 2017 rejoiced at the prospect of tax cuts. “The business community has been waiting a long time for a government and the president and a willing Congress to do what we have not done for many decades,” he said. Donohue said.
Yet, by conquering their new wealth, companies are so much closer to a White House that has separated children from their families on the border and feasted on dictatorial regimes.
“The Trump tax cut was gold,” former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said Thursday. “People have been deceived, and have unfortunately decided for their own benefits and the benefits of their business that this is the right thing to do.”
By 2019, it was as if Charlottesville had never happened before, and a new business advisory group was formed, such as Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple; Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart; and Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture.
During the first meeting, Mr. Cook next to mr. Trump sees. When the president mr. Cook asks to start talking with a tap on the wrist, the Apple chief said, “Thank you, Mr. President. It is an honor to serve on this council. ”
At the same meeting, Visa CEO Al Kelly complimented Trump on his “very, very good leadership”, and Ginni Rometty, then IBM CEO, thanked the president for his “steadfast leadership”.
Some of the same CEOs have Mr. Trump earlier got excited for his behavior. Yet they were there in the White House. It was as if the worst moments of his presidency were a bad dream.
“Over the past four years, CEOs have faced difficult challenges that should help advance policies to move the country forward, while speaking out strongly on issues that conflict with their beliefs,” said Rich Lesser, CEO of the Boston Consulting Group, said. part of one of the first advisory boards.
Eventually, however, the executives were reduced to the same kind of mental gymnastics and under-emphasis that the president’s social-liberal supporters had to perform in recent years, glorifying Trump’s economic policies at appropriate moments, while ignoring his fundamental flaws.
The big bargain was well articulated last year by Stephen Ross, the billionaire developer of Hudson Yards and the owner of the Miami Dolphins, who Mr. Trump supported. “I think he was a little divided,” he said. Ross said in an interview. “But I think there are a lot of good business policies that he issued, that were fantastic and no one else could do it except him.”
The pandemic brought a new round of photo options for the president and top executives. Here was Mr. McMillon of Walmart with Mr. Trump in the Rose Garden. There was the president with Ford Motor Company chairman Bill Ford in a factory in Michigan. And here was Chris Nassetta, the CEO of Hilton, with Mr. Trump in the Cabinet Chamber.
While Mr. Trump lied about his government’s response to the pandemic and made efforts to undermine the democratic process, some stood by his side in major cases. Although the president refused to accept the election results, Steve Schwarzman, the CEO of Blackstone and one of the strongest allies of Mr. Trump, made remarks and said he understands why people are worried about irregularities in the election. At the end of November, he issued a statement saying, “The outcome is very certain today and the country needs to move on.”
On Wednesday, many CEOs once again had enough. The National Association of Manufacturers has called on Vice President Mike Pence to call for the 25th Amendment of the Constitution and Mr. To remove Trump from office. Many executives – including Cook, Apple, Dimon of JPMorgan and Schwarzman – denounced the violence, lamented the state and demanded accountability.
But after four years of much talk, but little action, their words sounded hollow.
“When people make political decisions for business reasons,” he said. Walker, “it can have horrific social consequences.”